If it had not been for the temerity and/or desperation of Michel Martin, you would not be reading this biography. Had he not caught the gold bug in 1849, this writer would not exist. I will not amplify the long chain of events leading to my existence beyond the following. Michel Martin left Bordeaux in 1849 to travel to the California goldfields. His wife and son embarked a month later. As their ship rounded Cape Horn in the midst of a howling storm, Michel Martin, who had discovered a rich gold claim, was murdered by rowdy and violent claim-jumpers.

His wife, Jeanne, and son, Charles, had a rude surprise when they debarked in San Francisco in 1850. With her husband dead and no money for return passage, Jeanne Martin opened a French boarding house whose kitchen delighted the starving throng of would-be gold miners (an egg cost five dollars if you could find one). Within a short period of time, she amassed enough money to send her son to be educated by the Jesuits at the Santa Clara College (the precursor to Bellarmine College Prepratory and Santa Clara University). Charles Martin excelled and went on to become a wealthy, San Jose land owner and, eventually, mayor. During his tenure, he welcomed President McKinley to the Valley of Hearts Delight in 1901.

Charles Martin's granddaughter, Elizabeth Wilson, married Gerald Free, son of the well known politician, Arthur M. Free, a Stanford graduate, friend of Herbert Hoover, and U.S. congressman from 1918 to 1932.

From their union, Lloyd R. Free was born on Novembver 28, 1939, in San Jose. He attended Bellarmine College Preparatory, Santa Clara University, The University of California at Berkeley, the University of Dijon, France, and Kansas University. He received a BA from Santa Clara University and an MA and PhD from Kansas University. Upon graduation, he was hired by the University of Michigan to teach the French Age of Enlightenment, specializing in the French licentious novel. His scholary work is found in many of the top libraries throughout the world.

Lloyd wrote his first novel while a freshman at Santa Clara University and a second, The Recidivist, while attending the University of Dijon. His novel Confessions of a Day Trader is based on his experience as an online retail stock trader. He is currently finishing a new novel celebrating the beatnik jazz and poetry scene in San Francisco and Paris, circa 1960.